Two Modern Greek Titans of Mind and Spirit: The Private Correspondence of Constantine Cavarnos and Photios Kontoglou (1952–1965)

Publication Data: Etna, CA: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 2014
Format: softcover
Number of Pages: 245
Dimensions (l × w × h): 23.6 cm × 15.8 cm × 1.5 cm
Additional Information: two-color printing, full-color illustrations
ISBN: 978‒1‒938943‒01‒0

   
Translated, Annotated, and Edited by Archimandrite Patapios, with Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Etna and Monk Chrysostomos
With an Introduction and a Brief Biography of Photios Kontoglou by Metropolitan Chrysostomos

“The correspondence between the famous artist, iconographer, literary figure, and modern Greek cultural titan Photios Kontoglou, who died in 1965, and Constantine Cavarnos, the Greek-American philosopher, writer, translator, Byzantinist, and spiritual writer and guide, a virtual titan of Eastern Orthodox intellectuals in the West, who died in 2011, is very little known. Only occasional excerpts from their correspondence have appeared in print. The present collection of letters represents the vast bulk of that correspondence. While all of the letters in the collection were written by Kontoglou to Cavarnos, in almost every instance they make clear reference to the subjects and topics covered in the exchanges between the two, with frequent direct restatements of comments and ideas contained in the latter’s letters. On that account, we feel justified in characterizing the missives presented in this volume, which span a period of nearly a decade and a half, as correspondence between the two. Professor Cavarnos dutifully and carefully preserved Photios Kontoglou’s letters to him in a capacious punch hole binder, arranged by date. Each piece of correspondence was handwritten in an ornate cursive style, using ligatures common to Byzantine minuscule calligraphy. [...]Through his longtime friend, colleague, and co-worker at the Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies in Belmont, Massachusetts, the Reverend Father Dr. Asterios Gerostergios, Dr. Cavarnos bequeathed this treasured collection of letters to the Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, resulting in their publication, here, for the first time in full, the vast majority never having been previously seen or cited.”
—“Introduction”

CONTENTS

Introduction
A Brief Biography of Photios Kontoglou
A Prolegomenary Note on Kontoglou’s Letters to Professor Cavarnos
A Specimen of Kontoglou’s Handwritten Letters
   THE LETTERS (1952–1965)
Appendix I
   Kontoglou on the Old Calendarists
Appendix II
   A Chronology of Events in Kontoglou’s Life
Index of Letters by Date
Selected Index of Names of Churchmen and Theological and Religious Writers
Selected Index of Subjects
About the Translators and Editors
Books by the Same Translators and Editors